Life In The Wilds

[Vutall]

Life in the Wilds
Life in the wilderness is a struggle for survival. Warm food, safety, and sometimes even clean drinking water are luxuries for many who live beyond society’s reach. Others only pass through the wilderness on their way to someplace more civilized. Even then, travelers respect the wilds, stocking arms and provisions to help ensure a safe and successful journey. For all the dangers, many feel a strong connection to the elements while immersed in the natural world. The smell of unsullied air, the feel of unpacked dirt beneath one’s sandals, the crisp taste of cool mountain spring water—those who prefer the wilderness find these things invigorating like nothing else.

Samurai
It is rare for a samurai to be in the wilderness for long. The majority only pass through on their way to the next court or battlefield. Such travel is usually done by caravan, often with a handful of heimin and hinin to per-form those tasks prohibited for samurai. Many samurai spend travel days on horseback, talking to fellow samurai or to monks or priests, or steeling their mind for the journey ahead. Everyday tasks focus on optimizing the odds of a successful journey, which means considering route safety, food availability, and rest periods while choosing the path forward. Samurai are also expected to handle any threats, as well as to entertain any fellow samurai they happen across.

Rarely, samurai find themselves in exile. Many rōnin spend their time traveling the wilderness seeking purpose. Some rōnin might even settle down there to stand watch over a potential threat, protect a near-by village, or simply put down roots. Regardless of a rōnin’s reasons for staying in the wilderness, their life is a combination of quiet contemplation and fighting for survival.

Confronting the Wild Within
Survival in the wilderness is difficult under any conditions, but it is nearly impossible while strictly adhering to the Code of Bushidō. For example, samurai are not to touch dead things, but to do so may become necessary for survival. They may need to fish or hunt for food, or to make leather for constructing shelter or clothing if they are lost in the wild for an extended period. Because of this and other restrictions on behavior and hygiene, those samurai traversing the wilderness are often faced with difficult choices between a strict view of Bushidō’s tenets and survival.

Samurai traveling with those of a lower caste can easily delegate such unclean duties, and those traveling alone without witnesses might forgo the code in the name of pragmatism, not unlike the Unicorn Clan. It is groups of samurai traveling without any heimin who suffer the most. Social pressure from peers to follow Bushidō make it difficult to do what is necessary to survive. Such desperate times may force samurai to look within themselves and pit their desire for survival against their dedication to Bushidō.

Clergy
Monks, and more rarely priests, may spend a period of their life in the wilderness, living off the land in an effort to study or commune with the elements, Fortunes, and spirits away from the distractions of civilization. Priests often travel to far-flung shrines and temples to train and meditate, sometimes for months or even years, before returning to their clan. Monks, on the other hand, may remain in wilderness seclusion for years, if not their entire lives. There, they study the Tao of Shinsei, seeking Enlightenment in its teachings and a stronger connection to the spiritual planes.

Most monks seek Enlightenment through denying themselves basic comforts or undertaking great physical labors. The sharp, frigid winds and thin air of a mountaintop, the torrential storms of the coastal cliffs, the darkness of the forest floor: all bring monks closer to Enlightenment. Some monks might labor to feed others while fasting for a month or endure dangerous weather in still meditation for days. The more punishing a task, the better. Other monks might wander the wilderness instead of settling at a specific temple, seeking a variety of teachings on their path.

Monks, priests, and shugenja may also find them-selves part of a larger caravan. The clergy is expect-ed to lead if there is no one of higher status in the group, but otherwise, they advise the ranking samurai. Their advice often takes the form of divination or reading mystical signs and portents, but shugenja might instead commune with a local kami and relay any information they glean through mystical means. They might also seek the blessing of a Fortune or more direct means of supernatural assistance to ease the journey across the wilderness.

Bonge
The workforce of Rokugan gathers together into communities for mutual protection, but certain farmers and miners must brave untamed lands due to the nature of their work. Merchants move their wares along roads through uninhabited areas. Other workers serve traveling samurai or priests, performing menial labor and preparing meals. Even bonge craftspersons, at least those with eccentric natures, might visit or live far from society, seeking inspiration

The wilderness is home to many unique resources, and while some are worth taming the land and building an entire town to access, others are exploited by small groups of skilled heimin laborers. Camps too small to be considered villages might conduct mining or logging operations, or they might harvest or gather other rare resources found only in far-flung regions that are difficult to access. These camps are often seasonal, and the workers travel with provisions from their hometowns, often several days’ or weeks’ travel distant. Heimin who work in wilderness areas focus on gathering enough resources to support their families during the off-season and to afford provisions for the next season’s trip.

Other heimin might travel through the wilderness as merchants. Caravans overflowing with raw materials or finished goods must find their way from producer to buyer, often along unprotected roads. Many merchants are experienced travelers well versed in basic wilderness survival, though they generally stock enough provisions to eat comfortably. Still, their convoys are tempting targets for bandits, and without a protective escort, merchants must rely on speed and secrecy to reach their destinations unscathed. Most samurai who travel on official business require a staff, many of whom are heimin. Samurai might travel with armorers, personal attendants, cooks, general laborers, wagon drivers, animal handlers, and more, brought along to allow them to focus on matters of war and prayer rather than the rigors of travel. The heimin typically also manage any hinin within the caravan

Craftspersons, one of the rarest groups to find in isolated areas, may take a sabbatical to seek inspiration in nature. Outside of the cities and towns they know, skilled crafters are inspired by bold natural skylines and the smell of fresh, clean air, untainted by humanity. Some artisans develop secret, advanced techniques—and perhaps an accompanying and unhealthy paranoia. Living almost as a hermit, such an artisan can hone their craft while dealing only with trusted apprentices, merchants, and patrons

Hinin
Among the most common wilderness inhabitants, hinin who live in these areas do so largely to eke out a living far from the wrath of the higher castes. A smaller number are career criminals or bandits forced to live outside society. Others fill important roles in caravans, where their low status enables them to perform duties forbidden to others. The duties of hinin living in towns and cities require them to spend at least some of their time in the wilderness as well, engaging in tasks such as hunting, charcoal burning, and disposing of waste

Some of those low-born souls dwelling in the far and lonely places of Rokugan do so for their own safety. Many come from villages ruled by the cruel and callous, who execute hinin at random. Some prefer the dangers of the deep woods or treacherous passes to certain death at the edge of an angry katana. Hinin in this position can often eke out a somewhat comfort-able existence on the fringe of society.

Criminals thrive in the unexplored wilderness, evading capture and consequences for their misdeeds. For everyone from con artists looking for a place to hide to entire villages of bandits tucked into forests, caverns, and coves, the outdoors provides a haven from authority. However, most bandit camps struggle to provide basic necessities, and the threat of local wildlife is continual. Tales of the supernatural are a double-edged sword for these groups: regions rumored to host evil spirits or sinister forces may keep pursuers at bay, but bandits also worry that the rumors might have an element of truth. Some larger criminal encampments go to great lengths to invent supernatural stories, even fabricating token evidence to ensure their privacy.

The fact that they are the only people permitted to perform lowly tasks makes hinin invaluable on long journeys. Skinning game, gutting fish, handling the fall-en, and accommodating waste management in camp are all vital tasks only acceptable for hinin to perform. On rare occasions, samurai with a favored geisha might exert their class privilege to bring their hinin compan-ion along on a journey. So, too, might other entertainers find themselves accompanying a samurai through the wilderness, perhaps witnessing their great deeds to later regale a court or feast

Gaijin
Virtually unseen for generations on Rokugani soil, gaijin have enclaves within the Northern Wall Mountains and throughout the Islands of Spice and Silk. The gaijin tribes known as the Yobanjin live in the mountain passes and peaks north of Unicorn and Dragon lands. They dress in animal furs and in general are considered nonhumans living outside the Celestial Order. However, they weave intricate and beautiful rugs secretly favored by some Rokugani, particularly of the Unicorn Clan, which sees them as another intriguing culture on their long journey of discovery rather than as barbarians. The Islands of Spice and Silk are home to almost as many gaijin as Rokugani. Foreigners there hail from faraway lands like the Ivory Kingdoms, living in island settlements of their own or even alongside members of the Mantis Clan. There, the gaijin can freely engage in trade and exchange ideas in most circumstances.